Risk settings encourage disciplined trading and help protect profits.
When I joined Topstep, key risk settings were underutilized after years without dedicated design attention.
Role
Senior Product Designer
Platform
Web
Goal
Increase usage of risk settings
Impact
Increased unique trader engagement across key controls by 8–45%+
Problem definition & discovery
1 Month
User Experience
Usability Heuristics like “clear system status” were lacking. The settings also did not clearly signal their value to traders.
Usage
In interviews traders reported barely using - to not using risk tools at all.
Scalability
The company wanted to build out these features more however, they lacked a clear IA to do so.
Low fi exploration & early mockups
1 Month
Exploration
Lockout calendar
Coach T (AI) recommendations
Pre-configured settings
Mockups
Manual lockout
Accordion + side panel
Sidebar navigation
High fidelity
1 Month
Increased trader usage of:
PDLL Action
PDLL Value
8%
14%
45%+
Add max contracts
34%
Add symbol blocks
